A beautiful combination
by Ksian
Summary: "Love and hate, what a beautiful combination..." I think this line from a song by Erasure describes the relationship between Vergil and Dante perfectly. So this is going to be a series of one-shots attempting to illustrate different aspects of the brothers' love and their hate. (Disclaimer - as we all know, DMC belongs to Capcom.)
1. Flowers on a grave

Vergil was dreaming. He had to be, there was no other way to explain why he found himself standing in the rain atop Temen-Ni-Gru. That was twenty years ago. He was in Hell now, safe within the walls of his castle. Safe, he was safe. Unlike his brother.

But Dante was here as well. Vergil saw him clear as day, sitting on the edge of the platform, his flamboyant red coat wet and glistening, his white hair shining in the pearly light of the giant moon only partially obscured by the clouds. Vergil strode to him quickly and eagerly, feeling lighter and calmer than he remembered feeling in a long, long time. It wasn't a dream, it couldn't be. Dante was here, alive and free, they both were young and had all their lives, no - life, one for the two of them - ahead. They had the world at their feet.

Vergil came to stand by his brother's side.

\- Dante, - the elder greeted the younger gladly.

Dante turned slowly, and Vergil felt all the joy and peace leave him, sucked away by the horror in front. Dante's face was deathly pale, bluish almost, his eyes were glassy and vacant, and in his chest, where his heart should have been, a gaping hole bled over the jagged pieces of broken ribs.

\- Dante… - Vergil said again, and his voice trembled. - What happened? Why?..

Colorless lips moved, and a reply came, short, and cold, and even.

\- I am dead.

\- Who did this? How?..

A hollow, mirthless laugh chilled Vergil to the bone.

\- You ask me that? You of all people? Have you lost your memory, or have you gone completely mad with your sadistic sense of pleasure?

\- Answer me, Dante! - Vergil almost growled.

\- So you want me to describe in details how you killed me, huh?

\- I?.. - his knees grew suddenly weak and he had trouble keeping himself standing.

\- You want to know what it was like when you, my twin, my last remaining family, stabbed me through the chest with my very own sword? When you crushed my hope in your hand and left me alone forever, to drown in eternal solitude, to burn my heart away as a sacrifice to that damned duty of humanity's protector? Why, Vergil? Is it not enough that you forced it upon me? Must I tell you all of it and relive it once again? Is that why you called me from the dead?

\- No, Dante, I… - words failed him. And what could he say? That he was sorry? That it wasn't what he wanted? That it was killing him inside to see his brother like this?

Had he known the outcome, he would have killed himself to prevent it. But what was it to Dante? History knows no "if-s". He was alive, and his brother, his mirror image, his only friend, his twin, his light in the endless dark, his very life in the world of the dead was torn and broken, gone beyond salvation. Because of him.

Vergil half collapsed, half set down, covered his face with his hands. His fingers fisted on his temples, tugging roughly at his hair. Dante fell silent.

\- Can I go back now? - he asked quietly after what seemed like hours.

\- Where? - whispered Vergil.

\- To oblivion, where else.

\- I thought… I thought you'd be with her. In a better place. You should be, you belong with her, you deserve it. Why is it not so?!

Anger eased the heavy, suffocating knot inside him a bit. Anger at fate, at something else but himself. But… it was all his fault anyway.

\- How should I know? Maybe that is because she was whole. After all, I am only a part of a person, something he used to be, something he could have been. We are both living proof - do you get my joke? - that it's quite possible to live without a heart. The will is enough.

That was true. Vergil had believed it for years. And now he regretted it more than anything.

\- I'm just a shadow, dead and buried. No-one remembers me, no-one needs me, I am at peace. Let me go. I did that for you thrice. - He glanced at the terrible wound in his chest.

Vergil looked up, but couldn't meet his eyes.

\- Dante… I did not call you back to torment you. I never wanted it. I… I missed you. - Words were coming now, and each one brought painful relief and sorrow ever deeper. - I called you, the brother I remembered. The one who always stood up and fought, however he'd fallen. Who never surrendered. Who knew not what fear meant. Who did not kill me, when he could and should have. Who offered me his hand as I fell. Who grieved my loss. Who gave me back my freedom and identity, when I was a broken, mindless slave. Who came for me to Hell. I need you, Dante.

A shadow of life lit his twin's eyes before he looked away.

\- Your words are like flowers on a grave, Vergil. They are too late. But… thanks anyway. When I was alive, it was all I ever dreamed to hear, all I longed to hear. Still. Let me go. Please.

\- I don't want to, - Vergil said simply. He moved closer to Dante, and in one movement that was so forgotten he was surprised how easy it came, embraced him gently and confidently. He leaned his head against his twin's shoulder and in a few moments felt Dante do the same. They sat unmoving for a long time, as the rain washed away blood, and hatred, and sorrow, leaving behind only sadness and peace.

\- Flowers on a grave, - whispered Dante. - They are so beautiful, Vergil. But they will soon be dead, like me.

Vergil felt a tear hot and burning roll down his cheek. In some stupid childish hope he looked at the gaping hole in Dante's chest. If he, a devil, could cry, perhaps his tears would be the cure to mend his twin's wounds and bring his heart back? But, of course, nothing changed.

He desperately wanted to ask him to come back together, but deep inside he knew. Dante was right. He was too late.

\- Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, - Dante said softly, as if trying to console him.

Vergil nodded wordlessly, and it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

\- Thank you, - echoed through the air, as Vergil found himself embracing emptiness. His heart hurt so bad he fully expected to find it had been ripped out like Dante's. But he was fine. And then he woke up.

* * *

A/N: Nice reviews make me squeal and bounce happily around the room.


	2. First night

A.N. Thanks to everyone who has FAVed / followed this story, and triple thanks to those who have kindly reviewed it! *scatters cookies*

So. This part came to me quite unexpectedly and is basically a Vergil/Lady PWP. What is it doing here? Well, I think it sheds some light on how I see Vergil in my headcanon, and Dante is also present here, even if he doesn't make an appearance.

* * *

And the lovers that you sent for me  
Didn't come with any satisfaction guarantee  
So I return them to the sender  
And the note attached will read  
How I love to hate you  
© Erasure

Lady had fought him, had done everything she could. But all her efforts had been in vain. As soon as Vergil got too close for her to shoot Kalina Ann it was over. She threw a grenade at his feet and tried to cartwheel behind the shelves, but he caught her by the hand, tugged and slammed her hard against the storage.

Living daylights danced before her eyes for a moment. Why was there no explosion, she wondered vaguely. And then Lady heard the sound of a sword leaving its sheath, and almost saw two bloody halves of herself falling to the floor. Knowing she would not do it in time, she started to raise the gun that she was still somehow holding in her right hand. Yamato sliced through the air and there was pain. But not the one she had expected, nor was it where she had expected it. Vergil had hit the gun out of her hand with the empty scabbard. Yamato itself did not even scratch her skin. Instead of cleaving her in two (or ten, Vergil was quick enough for that) it cut only the strap on which Kalina Ann hung. And Lady's clothes.

She took it for a mockery first, meant to show her how slow and weak she was, to humiliate, confuse and inflame her. It did so. Frenzied, Lady reached for the spare pair of pistols on her hips and jumped to the side. Her feet were swept from under her, however, and when she hit the ground Yamato's tip touched her throat.

\- Now, dear Lady, very slowly take those guns of yours and put them on the floor to your right, if you please. I believe we have had enough of a warm-up. - Vergil's voice was calm, deep and tauntingly pleasant, not a bit out of breath after their twenty minute fight. It had been all-out for Lady, and now she was beginning to wonder why it had taken so long. She obeyed reluctantly, never taking wary, rage-filled eyes off his.

His own glacier-blue gaze traveled around the exposed privacy of her body. All in all Vergil looked like some gentleman leaning on a walking stick to admire a nicely set bed of flowers. Though he had a deadly sharp katana in place of a walking stick to hold the demon huntress before him just as immobile and nice as the said flower bed would have been. A tiny up-turn of his lips hinted that Vergil found the view to his liking.

\- What the hell are you staring at, you sick devil?! - Lady half hissed, half snarled, her voice thick with wrath and embarrassment.

Vergil shook his head and smiled slightly, drawing a small drop of blood from Lady's neck with the point of his sword. He stood still for about a minute, admiring the loveliness of the woman in front of him and the hatred in her eyes. Needless to say, to Lady that minute felt like an hour. And then he started to undress, unhurriedly, changing the hand on the hilt of Yamato to keep it at her throat while taking off his coat and vest, kneeling gracefully to remove his high boots and snake-skin trousers.

\- Raise your hands above your head, my Lady, - he said smugly, standing over her. Despite or maybe because of the situation she was in, the huntress was unable to remain completely unmoved by the perfection of his slim body, the angelic beauty of his features and the hell's fire of his eyes. This realization only served to fuel her ire, although she had thought it impossible. She just glared at him, in a loss for words and curses, feeling dark hot lava-like malice boil inside her.

\- Do not make me repeat myself, - Vergil said, this time with a shade of menace.

Trembling with barely contained anger and red-faced with abasement, Lady did as she was told. In one fluent motion Vergil sheathed Yamato, leaned it against a shelve and laid himself down, pinning her wrists to the floor with one hand. He traced her cheek with his other hand, then her neck, her breast and her waist. Surprisingly, his touch was gentle, a caress, as if he was doing it not for his pleasure, but for hers. He kissed her lips, confidently but, again, almost lovingly. When their eyes met once more, there was no hunger in his. Rather, they were warm, the ice in them seemed to melt, like an ancient mountain glacier in the summer sun.

For the time that followed Vergil continued to be caring and cautious, doing all a lover would do to make the act most enjoyable for his partner. And somewhere in the middle of it he took his hand off hers and put it under her head, rubbing it softly and fiddling with her short raven locks. And Lady did not reach for her weapons, though she had another pair of guns and a dagger about her, but in turn put both hands in Vergil's pearly white hair. It was silky and so sweet to stroke.

She did not know how much time had passed before she found herself again, lying with her hands under her head, watching Vergil out of the corner of her eye. He sat by her side, looking her over once again, content and relaxed.

Lady felt a tinge of disappointment when the half-devil stood up and began dressing.

\- You have a very unusual way of starting a date, - she mused, putting her clothes on as well.

\- I believe you will understand when I say that love is most enjoyable when spiced with hatred or rage, - he replied straightening his scarf. - Frankly, I have been interested in you for quite some time, seeing as how my brother has been playing a knight trying to win a lady's heart for several years now.

Lady, now fully dressed and holstering her guns, frowned and averted her eyes for a moment. Thinking of Dante made her feel guilty, as if she had betrayed him. Of course, she had made him no promises, hell, they had never so much as kissed, but... No woman would misread the looks he had given her more than a few times. And the way he acted - or refrained from acting - spoke volumes of his respect for her, his acceptance to wait for her decision.

\- And I must say, you have exceeded my expectations. I never thought sex with a human could be fulfilling. - Cruelty returned to his eyes, and a sneer twisting his lips, Vergil was back to being a devil. - So if Dante persists with his indecisiveness, tell him I have tested and tasted you, and am quite approving.

With that he was gone, and a bullet through the closing door only got Lady a soft chuckle. She was left to feel all the humiliation, anger and emptiness, and throw all the tantrums she would. To boot, now she knew full well the whole business was not only for Vergil's sick satisfaction (which was bad enough), but aimed to spite and hurt Dante. She had been used as his tool in more ways than one. Worst of all she had enjoyed it, lowered her guard at some moment due to his seeming tenderness, letting herself trust the devil. And she had never been able to do that with Dante, who had always been a true friend to her, however much he wanted to be something more. Right now Lady hated her own guts even more than she hated Vergil's.


End file.
